Review of Aakrosh (2010) by Eric G — 18 Oct 2010

A very well made and gripping version of Alan Parker's masterpiece: Mississippi Burning. The script is cleverly adapted to a parallel situation in India: honour killing and the difficult topic of inter caste marriages (or lack of) in particular, and the problem of caste relations in general. This courageous remake generates its dose of tension and political discourse, rare in the PC and non controversial world of Bollywood. It should be applauded. This film is closer in tradition to the indian neo-realism of Satyajit Ray. There is even a very serious spoken message over the credits from the director, exhorting the Indian population to live together and dismiss the caste system.

The relationship between the two main characters, federal cops from Delhi with diverging approaches to the investigation, is well rendered and sustains a strong interest throughout. The actor who plays the deeply mean and rotten local cop is amazing. The film also contains some action and chases: car, bicycle, foot. For those interested, there is a nice 5 minute parkour chase over the roofs of the town.

The photography is particularly good with beautiful colours and rich in details about the life of poor village people. The film is long, 2h35, which is normal for indian films in general, but because of a very good pace doesn't feel long at all, also allowing plenty of details to surface about small town and rural life. It "only" contains two songs, one of which is at the very beginning and fits well in the film, while the other one is unexpected and unfortunately destroys the tension of an important scene and a little of the credibility of the film, otherwise very good.

There are some very strong and emotional scenes, particularly with the peasants, having to endure the vicissitudes of the locals in power: businessmen, police, religious zealots. The collusion between the local men in power is frightening. It becomes easy to understand how corruption works.

Overall a nice surprise offering a refreshing and challenging perspective of some of the issues still confronting India today.